Back Judith Brin Ingber on COMMON EMOTIONS at International Exposure 2016

Judith Brin Ingber
21.12.2016

Yasmeen Godder in her “Common Emotions” asked the audience to join in and help with the dance,…..Godder’s backdrop looked less rag-tag and her costuming of strange creatures seemed more planned and effectively constructed than in the past.  The set, a colorful quilt of fabric suspended by huge colored cords that allowed it to rise and fall, took on its own personality. It had kind of holes/windows allowing us a voyeuristic view of audience members as they came up to participate in the dance.  Throughout the dance, audience members were encouraged to join in and often many left their seats to go in clumps behind the colorful fabric. The audience members eagerly joined in, and followed instructions of Godder’s dancers. Whole herds of audience members would grab a hand and run in a line, or sit in a circle and talk to each other (about what we couldn’t tell) … to extend the expression of what Godder apparently wanted. I found myself resenting how easily and how eagerly people wanted to be looked at, wanted to participate, without thinking what were they joining up to do, to show perhaps our herd mentality these days, unwittingly following the wrong leaders. Was she saying we could get ourselves into hopeless trouble in the guise of joining up?